The 7 craziest things we learned at Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop summit

What really went down when Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop hosted a wellness summit in Los Angeles

By
Molly Creeden

Jun 12, 2017

Courtesy of Goop

"If you are here, I promise that your life will shift," said Dr. Habib Sadeghi, general practitioner, coiner of the term "conscious uncoupling," and the psychosomatic expert Gwyneth Paltrow credits with "having the biggest impact on my physical and psychological life."

On Saturday, Sadeghi welcomed 600 attendees from around the United States to the Goop Wellness Summit in Los Angeles for a day of self-improvement and green juice. That morning, women wearing large sunglasses slumped into chairs at the outdoor IV Bar while rehydrating fluids pumped into their arms. Some in athleisure sipped bone broth in line for blowouts from Dyson, others swarmed the Clean Beauty Apothecary or screamed in the workout space with Taryn Toomey. By noon, slots for the crystal readings were filled. It was like walking through a real life diorama of a Goop newsletter, for which attendees paid between $500-$1,500 a ticket.

"Today really comes out of my deep curiosity to try to do everything I can to live a life that feels really good," said Paltrow on stage in a Vilshenko dress. "I've been on this path for a long time, and I have a long way to go. I'm still a deeply flawed person—I still sometimes smoke a cigarette at a party—so there's never an end point."

There was a lot to absorb (sometimes quite literally—Bulletproof coffee hosted an oxygen bar), but these were our favourite, strangest, and most Goop-y takeaways:

1. Miranda Kerr is a leech rescuer

During a panel called "Balls in the Air," in which Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Tory Burch and Nicole Richie discussed work/life balance, Kerr, who shares Paltrow's fascination with alternative therapies, revealed that after trying a leech facial, she returned home with the creatures and released them into her koi pond. "You're not allowed to reuse them [after the facial], and if you don't take them home then she kills them, and I didn't like that idea," she said. To which Paltrow replied by articulating what everyone in the room was thinking: "Wow. I thought I was batshit crazy."

2. Everyone is wearing grounding slippers without us

In response to a question to the same panel about how each woman decompresses (Diaz meditates, Richie wakes up an hour before her kids; in a surprise to no one, Burch rides horses and plays tennis), Kerr mentioned that even slipping off her shoes to put her feet in the grass helps her recalibrate. "Do you have grounding slippers?" Nicole Richie asked of the shoes that aid in connecting with the Earth's conductivity. "Yes! And sheets!" replied Kerr. "It's getting very Goop in here," noted Paltrow.

3. Frog venom is a hot new Rx

On a panel called "Gut Check," Dr. Alejandro Junger, whose Clean Program and detox methods are much touted by Goop, noted that he had recently tried Kambo. The poisonous frog venom, when applied through self-imposed burns on the skin, is an alleged powerful antibiotic. Junger has also dabbled in conscious-altering Ayahuasca and Ibogaine (though he's not yet convinced of the latter's ability to combat addiction).

Crystal therapy at the In Goop Health wellness summit.

4. You may not need breakfast

"Humans evolved to fast," noted Junger, when talk on the Gut panel turned to the effect that modern mealtimes have on the body's natural rhythms of hunger and replenishment. To strengthen the gut, all panelists (including Dr. Amy Myers and Dr. Steven Gundry) noted that they occasionally fast (what's most important, of course, is eating, and all advise diets that reduce inflammation). "Breakfast is the most oversold meal," said moderator and chef Seamus Mullen. "We're eating too often" (for the record, this did not look like a group of women who were eating too often, but we hear you).

5. Nonsurgical facelifts are not for the faint of heart

During a quick 15 minutes between panels, plastic surgeon Dr. Julius Few performed a nonsurgical facelift on a Goop staff member with the cavalier artfulness of a man tying a shoe. It involved numbing the skin before threading an organic suture under her cheek and pulling, which made the audience audibly gasp. "They are saying someone fainted during the facelift," said Paltrow afterwards, her eyes wide. "But I do think women are fascinated by it, and we do like to push boundaries."

6. Think of an orgasm the same way you would a raise or a promotion: plan and ask for it

Seats for all panels were packed, but no audience was so rapt as the one called "The Three Way," which featured Girls showrunner Jenni Konner, Nicole Daedone, author of Slow Sex: The Art and Craft of the Female Orgasm, and relationship psychotherapist Esther Perel. "In a relationship the first thing is to understand is that some of sex is a created enterprise," said Perel. "It's premeditated, intentional, and it demands focus, attention, naming of desire, and owning of the wanting — not the notion that it's just going to happen. Nobody goes back to the first week of sex, but you need to know how to resuscitate it and re-engage." Added Konner: "I think about it like: look I don't always want to go to the gym, but I feel much better once I've gone."

7. Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Richie are on a group text about dinner

This was revealed during the Balls in the Air session, when conversation turned to the importance of female friendships. Is Kerr jealous of this group text? We are curious. Other revelations: Kerr's wedding was "magical," Joel and Benji Madden are supportive partners in life and work, and everyone—regardless of industry—had been told by men they were ambitious...and it wasn't a compliment. Good news: no one had paid them any mind.

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